Princess vs Power

Princess vs Power

How do we empower our Inner Princess without a Faery Godmother, the Glass Slipper, or the attention of the Prince?

In the novel, Christa’s Luck, Christa finds herself struggling with big issues. She’s not popular, she’s not beautiful like her sister, Sara, but she does have something special that fills her heart…her connection with horses; most specifically, her pony named Lucky. When she’s with him a door swings open in her heart and makes her feel joyful. And that’s not the only gate that opens from the inside. She also has a gate that opens from her property onto BLM land with trails that stretch for miles through the Nevada backcountry. With her impulsive and impatient nature, she can’t wait to push the boundaries of what’s accepted. She wants to discover new territory and the faster the better.

Captivated by a legend that tells of a herd of wild horses that have outsmarted men and their roundups since the Gold Rush days, she sets out on Lucky to find them. Who are these beautiful mustangs that have remained free? She wants to prove that they are real, not just a story her grandmother told her. She wants to know what it is to be wild and beautiful and powerful and part of nature. And so our princess sets out on her quest.

The hero’s journey (a concept that Joseph Cambell illustrated so beautifully for us) starts when the princess leaves home seeking something. She wears cowboy boots and jeans instead of glass slippers and a magical gown. She is seeking a herd of wild horses known as the Lost Herd, not a prince, and she comes as herself. She wants to find something that has been lost in this world of iPhones, Instagram, and Selfies. She seeks freedom and adventure, and with Lucky as her trusted pony she can saddle up and ride into the hills at a moment’s notice.

All is perfect, until the accident. Until she knows that bad things can happen…and that this time it’s all her fault.

Now comes the real work of any hero or heroine on the journey. How do you start again? What can you do to make up for your mistakes? How can you find a place in the world when your heart is shattered and any shred of self-love is gone?

Take one very small step at a time. Realize you are not perfect and that nobody is even if they are gorgeous and look like they have everything. Gently encourage any spark of life or joy or love in your heart as if you were building a fire in the snow. And most of all. Never. Ever. Give. Up.

That is what makes a princess: Grit, persistence, courage. Feeling the pain and still finding a way through the wilderness back to the kingdom of your heart.

For Christa it’s horses that get her there. Her connection with them runs as deep and fast as any river. Even when she is trapped in a prison of guilt and loss of her own making, her love for horses are a life-line she clings to until she can reach the shore. And as far as the door in her heart? The gate opens from the inside.